Winchester Special + Another Opus (2 Lps On 1 Cd)

Lem Winchester

Vibist Lem Winchester (1928-1961) seemed well on the way to a promising jazz career when he made these two straight-ahead, bop-flavoured albums in 1959-60 with some of the leading lights in the music at the time. Influenced by Milt Jackson, he was also evolving his own sound and approach to the instrument.

That much is evident in his playing on the first, “Winchester Special”, with Benny Golson in fine form on tenor and an excellent rhythm section in pianist Tommy Flanagan, bassist Wendell Marshall and drummer Art Taylor. For “Another Opus”, arguably his best recorded album, Winchester was teamed with flautist and tenor saxophonist Frank Wess and the delectable piano of Hank Jones in a rhythm section completed by bassist Eddie Jones and drummer Osie Johnson. The vibist is particularly inventive on Like Someone In Love, responds imaginatively to Oliver Nelson’s The Meetin’ and plays with spirit and warmth on his own originals. But the end was nigh; an accident with a revolver wrote the final chapter on January 13, 1961.